The Minooka varsity dance team came away with a huge first-place finish at the Southwest Prairie Conference Competition on Jan. 15. This was Minooka’s first conference win since 2023.

After competing in big competitions with a lot of teams all year, the girls were able to take what they had learned to put it all together and come away with a first place finish. 

“I think the team did good and performed well while having positive mindsets. Competing against top teams all year prepared us to be able to win,” junior Abby Narducci said. 

Minooka finished with a score of 86.38, edging out Oswego East who scored a 85.98. Rounding out the top 5 was Plainfield North, Plainfield Central, and Joliet West.

Kerri Elkei is in her second season as the head coach at Minooka. She is very proud of her team’s performance and how hard they worked leading up to conference.

“The team had been working hard on their dance prior to conference,” Elkei said. “Dances are always evolving throughout the season, so the team was focused on changing and cleaning movements/phrases along with getting everyone to look the same and be on the same exact count throughout the dance.”

Elkei said that senior Kathryn Boe has been a standout all season long.

“She is always the first one I hear trying to pump up the team and encouraging them. I hear her at practice and also during the dance. Kathy is also a leader when it comes to cleaning and coming up with movement. She is a great dancer, but she is also a fantastic teammate,” Elkei said.

Boe says she has worked hard and prepared all year to be able to have success. 

“I like to bring everything that we’ve been working on in practice into our performance. I do this by watching film and also visualizing the performance and how it should go,” said Boe.

A week later, the team finished fourth at sectionals to qualify for the state finals, where they finished 20th.